440 Canadian Record of Science. 



the last province in northern Honshiu from which the 

 Ainos were displaced, on their retreat into Yezo — only 

 5 to 10 per cent, of Aino names are now preserved. Yet 

 the displacement from that province, has been effected 

 only within the last hundred years. The well recognized 

 persistence of Aino names, however, is very properly taken 

 advantage of to determine the former dispersion of the peo- 

 ple. This persistence of place names for many centuries, 

 again gives rise to the pertinent query, if certain of them 

 of obscure meaning may not similarly have been derived 

 from the predecessors of the Ainos ? for that predecessors 

 there were, is accepted as probable by the best ethnologists, 

 in spite of a few efforts to show that the various kitchen 

 middens with their pottery, originated at the hands of the 

 Ainos. 



The most important question involved in the present 

 memoir, is the former distribution of the Ainos, and the 

 evidence directed toward its solution is of great value. The 

 view most generally held is, 1 that they descended from the 

 north and gradually dispersed over the whole of Japan, 

 being afterward gradually driven back by the Japanese. 

 Historical evidence shows that the Ainos were at least as 

 far south as Tokyo, and within recent periods, they have 

 occupied the north of Honshiu. At present, they are ex- 

 clusively confined to Yezo and the islands to the north, but 

 their range of distribution, like that of the North American 

 Indian, is being continually reduced. 



But to the solution of this question, Prof. Chamberlain 

 directs the evidence of place names with such success as to 

 leave little room for doubt. Traces of them are thus found 

 to the extreme southern limits of Japan, and on the islands 

 Of Ike and Tsushima ; so that these people were undoubt- 

 edly the predecessors of the Japanese all over the Archi- 

 pelago. And again, the author directs attention to the 

 probability that, since the surnames of ancient families 

 were often derived from villages and places, the names of 

 many families of the present day, doubtless represent the 

 influence of the Aino upon the Japanese language. 



1 Can. Eec. Sc. 1, 11. 



